Heather and I met at Panera to kick off our one on one workshop yesterday. The sun was shining and the Florida air was warm. We were happy! Heather was eagerly engaged in full learning mode and I was fanatically engaged in sharing mode. It was 12:30 and this was going to be a great day! I could hardly wait to give Heather her Sponsor goodie bag. I am so proud and thankful for all of the amazing vendors who have lent their talents and products to my {Walk The Shot} workshop! Heather was like a kid at Christmas. Who doesn’t love a swag bag?
We chit chatted for a minute…or fifteen…about life. We quickly got reacquainted and discovered countless similarities between the two of us. It was like we were long lost sisters. Soon we dove straight into our workbooks. I was so excited to create this workbook as an extension of the day because I know that when I attend any type of workshop or conference I always like take notes and love to refer back from time to time to refresh my memory on all of the content covered. It’s one thing to talk but it’s a better thing to talk and write it down. We made it through about one quarter of the workbook and decided that if we didn’t get our behinds in line for lunch that Panera was going to run out of food to feed us. That place was insanely busy for a Sunday afternoon! Got to the counter and guess what??? Yep! They ran out of food. Okay…I exaggerate…but they did run out of the food that I wanted…a Mediterranean salmon salad. I settled for my usual, an everything bagel with veggie cream cheese. Love those!!! I almost asked Heather for a bite of her Caesar salad with fresh shavings of parmesean cheese and chunky toasted croutons…I dug deep for self control and refrained. It really did look yummy though! ;-)
Time flew by! I mean like at the speed of light rate. It was soon time to go on location for our session. Heather opted to use her daughter as the model. And really…can you blame her? She is so precious! We shot for about 2 hours and of course analyzed the hows and whys of my personal style and what it is that gets me to my final image. I loved this part of the workshop! I am a visual, hands on kinda gal so working with another photographer one on one definitely suits me. There was no stone left unturned. No questions left unanswered. I did my absolute best to give 100% of myself to Heather on her day and I think that both of us were genuinely happy as we wrapped up our afternoon session.
We then headed back to my office to pick up where we left off in our workbooks. I was really glad that we had them as a reference point because it would have been so easy to get off track or lose our thoughts on something we meant to touch on. With the workbook…we had every topic right in front of us. We finished up the workbook and then moved onto the editing session. I believe this is where things really began to come together for Heather…although I certainly don’t want to speak for her…I can’t wait until she shares her own personal thoughts with you. But to be able to take the workbook elements, the on location session and then the SOOC images and bring all of that together just seemed to provoke one of those “ah ha” moments. And then to move those images into a final print ready product…well…I just loved that! And even though we were STARVED and our tummies were speaking in sync (by this time it was 12:30am and we had put in a full twelve hour day)…that last edit was like assembling a huge puzzle and inserting that final piece. Accomplishment!
I cannot thank Heather enough for being the first ever {Walk The Shot} attendee! She will always have such a special place in my heart as well as my business. I am so anxious to watch her blossom and have no doubt that she will. I am thrilled with the result of the workshop. I truly enjoyed sharing my time with Heather. I can’t wait for the next workshop! If you would like to reserve your own {Walk The Shot} just click HERE for additional details. I can’t wait to hear from you!!!
Probably gonna be one of my favorite images of 2010. I love it!!!
The Beautiful Heather!
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Dang girl….12:30 a.m. Did you at least go for a late night latte run??
In all seriousness, it looks and sounds like an amazing day! i can’t wait to hear Heather’s take on it too, I have no doubt that she is beyond thrilled! I wish I could hang out with you for 12 hours straight!!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE Everything about this, I only wish I was closer so I could have a day with you as well!! :)
Sounds awesome! I can’t wait to hear what Heather has to say! Her perspective will be a great story, I’m sure!
I don’t know what to say…I am sooo thrilled for you my friend!!! I can’t wait to hear what Heather has to say about her fabulous time with you!!!
Dawn as a peer and friend I couldn’t be more excited for you! I’m so happy to hear what a huge success this was and here’s to the first of many more to come!
Stunning, stunning pictures Dawn, I’m waiting for my tax check to come back, I’m really wanting a walk with Dawn, saw a bunch of the photographer’s from the people that go to the monthly Jax Photo shoots on Friday, I told them all you were my favorite Portrait photographer. You are you know!
D
There you go again with those color images, Miss Dawn. Makin’ a gal feel like she doesn’t want to shoot black and white all the time. Geeze, lady. We’re gonna have to have a chit chat at WPPI limiting your color image posts to one a month or something ;)
Awesome work!!!